Sports Briefs: Hanks brings home gold; Long Blades prep for meet

Connor Meinke (right), the captain of NorKam's wrestling team, works hard against an opponent from Salmon Arm Secondary on Saturday at the 2013 Okanagan Zone tournament in Salmon Arm. Meinke, a Grade 12 student, won gold in his weight class and advanced to provincials, which are in Duncan, Feb. 28 and March 1. Also advancing was Ben Meinke, who is in Grade 10 at Sa-Hali. The Meinke brothers were five years of age when they began training under coaches Brian Dick and Rupert Meinke, who is their father.
Photograph By
Lorrie Jane

Connor Meinke (right), the captain of NorKam's wrestling team, works hard against an opponent from Salmon Arm Secondary on Saturday at the 2013 Okanagan Zone tournament in Salmon Arm. Meinke, a Grade 12 student, won gold in his weight class and advanced to provincials, which are in Duncan, Feb. 28 and March 1. Also advancing was Ben Meinke, who is in Grade 10 at Sa-Hali. The Meinke brothers were five years of age when they began training under coaches Brian Dick and Rupert Meinke, who is their father.

Christine Strain of the Kamloops Gymnastics / Trampoline Centre placed third on bars, beam, floor and all-around at the North Shore Invitational in North Vancouver on the weekend.

The competition, played host to by the Flicka Gymnastics Club, drew more than 300 competitors from across B.C., including 13 from the KGTC.

Strain was competing in the Provincial Level 2 Tyro category.

In Provincial 2 Argo, Bella Wood was fourth on vault, while Chloe Macus was fourth on bars.

In Provincial 3 Novice, Jade Wood earned a silver medal on beam, while Sydney Leahy, who is back from an injury that kept her from competition last season, placed fofth on vault. Taylor Gray's top event was a seventh place finish on floor.

In Provincial 5 Tyro, Jennaya Motokado earned bronze on vault.

Shayla Gifford, in Provincial 5 Novice, brought home a bronze on balance beam.

On the men's side, Riley Mott earned a silver medal on pommel horse in the Level 3 Under-13 13 category, while Marc Thibault placed second on the high bar and third on vault in Level 3 13-and-up.

In men's Level 4 and up, Taylor Berthelot's top finish was sixth on rings, Jason Dahlgren placed sixth on floor, and Tristian Lockerbie's highest event was vault, where he placed 11th.

KGTC's trampolinists will compete at the Flip City Invitational in Abbotsford this weekend.

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Geoffrey Hanks of Aberdeen Judo came home with a gold medal from the Pacific International Open Judo Championships held at the Richmond Olympic Oval on Saturday.

Hanks, 13, won the under-15 Juvenile male (+66kg) division.

Organizers used the 2010 Olympic Winter Games podium for medal presentations. Yeiji Inouye, one of three 9th degree black belts in Canada, presented the medal to Hanks.

In the championship match, Hanks avenged a loss to Craig Cipywnyk of Saskatoon at the Saskatchewan Open last month in Regina.

Next up for Aberdeen Judo will be the Judo BC Youth provincial championships in Prince George on the weekend of March 9, followed by the Edmonton International Open. The latter, on the April 9 weekend, is held inside the West Edmonton Mall.

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The Kamloops Thunderbirds, a peewee rec team, finished second in a Seattle Junior Hockey Tournament in Lynnwood, Wash., on the weekend.

In their first game, the Thunderbirds beat Sooke, 3-1, on two goals from Jordan De Vries and one from Jared Pringle.

Grayden Baker, with two, and Evan Jumaga had the goals in a 3-1 victory over Semiahmoo in their second game.

In Game 3, the Thunderbirds got past the Seattle Spartans, 2-1, with Kylie Emsland and Baker getting the goals.

That put Kamloops into a semifinal where it dumped the New Westminster Royals, 5-3. Pringle, with two, Jesse Kotani, De Vries and Baker had the goals, with the latter also picking up two assists.

In the final, the Saanich Braves beat the Thunderbirds, 4-1. Baker had the Kamloops' goal.

Speed skaters from the Kamloops Long Blades will welcome competitors from seven other B.C. clubs as they compete in the New Gold Coyote Cup on Saturday at McArthur Island Sport and Event Centre.

Skaters between the ages of four and 80 are expected to compete. It all starts at 10 a.m.

For more information on the Long Blades, visit www.kamloopslongblades.ca/

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The TRU WolfPack baseball team is 2-2 in its training season, following a 5-4 loss to the host Glendale, Ariz., Community College Vaqueros on Monday.

TRU took a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the eighth inning, only to give up a pair of runs.

Billy Clapperton, a freshman right-hander out of Calgary, took the loss. He came on in relief, and gave up four hits and four walks in 1.2 innings. Mike Riddle, a junior left-hander from Surrey, started and went four innings. He was touched for four hits and four walks, while striking out one.

The WolfPack is scheduled to play Thursday against Paradise Valley Community College.